Perfect Timing

Perfect Timing

Luke 1:5-38

Christmas 2008

Humor –

Children and Christmas can really be humorous at times.

Thomas Stewart, age 9 asks....

What never eats at Christmas time?

The turkey, ...it’s usually stuffed

Sergio Garcia,(child)asks,

What happened to the man who shoplifted a calendar at Christmas?

He got 12 months.

(Adult) Why is Christmas just like a day at the office ?

You do all the work and the fat guy with the suit gets all the credit.

What did Adam say on the day before Christmas ?

It’s Christmas, Eve

Q. Why does Santa Claus like to work in the garden?

A. Because he likes to hoe, hoe, hoe!

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Christmas Fireman

I read about a man who visited a small Southern town where there was a "Nativity Scene" that showed great skill and talent in the creation of it. One small feature bothered me, the man said. The three wise men were wearing firemen’s helmets. Totally unable to come up with a reason or explanation, I left.

At a "Quick Stop" on the edge of town, I asked the lady behind the counter about the helmets. She exploded into a rage, yelling at me, "You Yankees never do read the Bible!" I assured her that I did, but simply couldn’t recall anything about firemen in the Bible. She jerked her Bible from behind the counter and ruffled through some pages, and finally jabbed her finger at a passage. Sticking it in my face she said

"See, it says right here, ’The three wise man came from afar.’"

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I heard David Jeremiah tell of Christmas cards he has received

1) One card has on the front of it, "The three great Christmas lies" Open it and it says , "Easy to assemble, unbreakable, and one size fits all" …3 great Christmas lies.

2) another on the front, "I don’t think I will be getting my wife anything this year…" Open it up and it says, "She still hasn’t used the snow shovel I got her last Christmas."

3) "I get such a thrill watching my children hanging up their stockings on Christmas Eve"… Open it up and it says, "It’s not that it’s Christmas Eve it’s just the thrill to see them hanging anything up"

4) One of his all time favorite Christmas card stories is about a lady who wanted to send cards to a group of friends for whom she had no intention whatsoever of buying a gift. She waited till the last minute to get her cards. She past a card shop the week before Christmas and decided to run inside and buy some cards. She spotted a box of cards that seemed to be just right…On the front it said, "From my heart to yours". The cards had pretty gold trimming around the edge and she quickly signed them and stuffed them inside the envelopes, putting addresses on the envelopes. She sent them off to her friends believing she had now fulfilled her Christmas obligations. A little bit later in the week she still had a couple of those cards left and she decided to read what the inside of the card said. When she opened up the card she found this little poem…"This Christmas card is just to say, a little gift is on it’s way"

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* Enough of the humor…let’s talk about God’s perfect timing at Christmas.

* Many of us have no difficulty with God’s will for our life…BUT we have trouble with His timing.

-God will answer this prayer…but when?

-God will give me what I need…but when?

-God will fulfill His promise…but when?

-God will turn this situation around…but when?

-God will fulfill that dream I have…but when?

* The truth is – often our time schedule and God’s time schedule don’t match.

* We want God to answer our prayer NOW

* We want God to do it NOW.

* We believe that now is the time,…not later.

* The last thing we want to do is wait.

* We are so impatient!

- We can’t even wait for a red light to turn green….much less wait on God and His timing for our lives.

- Or we are like the child who can’t wait to open their Christmas gift.

* Let me assure you this morning, that God is always on time.

- Never late,…Never early…Never runs ahead of schedule

- He is always punctual.

Ecc 3:1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

* God has a time schedule He is going by to bring to pass the culmination of history.

* God was on time when Jesus was born into this world.

- It wasn’t a minute too soon nor a minute too late.

* Let me share with you three things about the time of Christ’s birth.